Entries in Ticket Sales
(5)

Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Concert and sports fans have long bridled at Ticketmaster's lock on the market with its fee-laden approach in a day and age when issuing a ticket can cost a concert attendee dearly.

Though concert attendance and earnings are up, Ticketmaster may be facing a formidable rival in the second-largest concert company, AEG.

As of Tuesday, Ticketmaster no longer has a grip on Minneapolis' major events venue, Target Center, which is the home of the NBA Timberwolves and WNBA Lynx.

AEG, a subsidiary of Anschutz Company in Denver, announced on Monday that it will be replacing Ticketmaster as the ticketing agency of the Target Center. AEG calls itself the nation's second-largest concert promotion and touring company and part owner of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, home of the NBA's Lakers and Clippers, WNBA's Sparks and NHL's Kings.

However, while AEG is providing tickets through its AXS online system for Target Center's future concerts and gatherings starting Tuesday, Ticketmaster is still ticketing Timberwolves and Lynx games.

Bryan Perez, AEG's president of digital, ticketing and media, said the Minnesota Timberwolves' 2012-2013 season was on sale to the public prior to AXS' announcement.

"Conversations about future seasons are taking place, but nothing has been confirmed at this time," he said.

The first question frequent concert-attendees in the Minneapolis area asked after they learned Ticketmaster was given the boot for non-sporting events was, "Will fees be lower?"

"In some instances fees will be lower and other instances fees will likely be in line with other ticketing companies," she said.

However, unlike Ticketmaster, AXS does not charge a delivery fee to customers who print their Target Center event tickets at home, which is most often criticized by consumers. Dveris said fans have been excited to learn that fee has been eliminated with AXS.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune also points out that AXS fees are listed up front as a single fee.

Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(LOS ANGELES) -- Movie ticket sales were on the rise outside the U.S. last year.

A report issued by the Motion Picture Association of America finds that international ticket sales increased by 7 percent from the year before with $22.4 billion in revenue, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Japan was the highest-grossing nation outside of North America with $2.3 billion.

When also taking into account the North American markets, there was only a 3 percent increase in ticket sales worldwide with $32.6 billion. In 2011, North America grossed $10.2 billion -- a 4 percent decline from the previous year.

Last year, 1.28 billion movie tickets were sold at the domestic box office, the lowest total in a decade.

The good news for Hollywood: the president of the National Association of Theatre Owners says that U.S. box office totals are up nearly 14 percent to date from a year ago.﻿

Hemera/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- As if high ticket prices weren't enough, concertgoers and sports fans purchasing their seats through Ticketmaster are slammed at checkout with extra charges known as "processing fees."

The ticket distributor has reportedly profited from these fees, and now, ticket buyers may be in for a refund.

Business Insider reports a proposed class action settlement is ordering Ticketmaster to give customers $1.50 for each ticket purchased between Oct. 21, 1999 and Oct. 19, 2011. Under the settlement, ticket buyers would be able to get their money back for up to a total of 17 orders placed during the 12-year window.

The settlement, which is expected to be approved on May 29, 2012, could end up costing the ticket seller millions. But it stops short of blocking Ticketmaster from banking on the extra charges; the online ticket seller simply needs to denote it on its website.

Customers who are eligible for a refund won't be credited before April 15, 2012, according to Business Insider. The credits should roll out within 30 days after the settlement is approved.

Stockbyte/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Movie theater owners are not happy with Sony's plan to subsidize 3D glasses for its films, beginning in May.

Patrick Corcoran of the National Association of Theater Owners says if studios such as Sony choose not to pay for the glasses, the theater owners will be forced to cover the costs. That could potentially lead to a price hike for 3D movie tickets.

Corcoran says, "Sony needs to rethink their plan and they need to negotiate with theater owners directly. They can't just unilaterally decide that they're no longer going to pay for that."

Charles Martin Smith, the director of the current 3D film Dolphin Tale, says it's possible that moviegoers won't want to fork over extra cash for a 3D movie, if ticket prices do in fact increase.

He says, "It probably would be a disincentive. Depending on how much more, you know. If it's an extra 25 cents maybe not, but if it's an extra $25, sure. But yeah, you'd hate to see audiences being charged that much more."

Photo Courtesy - PRNewsFoto | JetBlue Airways(FORT WORTH, Texas) -- American Airlines thanked its customers Wednesday for their continued loyalty in the midst of a commercial dispute with two online travel companies, Expedia and Orbitz.

Notwithstanding the dispute's prevention of American Airlines fares from being promoted on both travel sites, the airline reported seeing a year-over-year increase in its overall ticket sales since Dec. 21, when its schedules and airfares were removed from Orbitz.com. The increase continued after Dec. 23, when Expedia.com began listing American lower in the search display than other airlines.

American Airlines noted that more customers have now shifted to other channels such as Priceline.com and Kayak.com, and it has also seen increased volume on its own site, AA.com.

"Our results to date show that customer choice is alive and well and that our customers continue to have thousands of options to purchase American's competitive fares and convenient schedules," said Derek DeCross, vice president and general sales manager at American Airlines.

DeCross also highlighted the company's interest in working with a variety of different distribution channels from conventional travel agencies to online and global distribution outlets.